Stand in the Rain
Shadow of an Echo
Chapter Eleven
Next To Me
Ichigo had just secured Zangetsu on his back when there was a tentative knock on his door. Knowing he wouldn't have made any plans to meet anyone today, since this was the first day of training with Hanataro and Rikichi, he opened the door with a mixture of curiosity and caution to find Rukia standing in the hall looking nervous.
He didn't like that look on her, she might be small, but the raven-haired female just didn't get nervous especially not around him. There was a time when she thought nothing of threatening him with death if he made a scene in public, or kicked him out a window for scaring her; and now she was scared of him? It was just wrong.
"Rukia, is everything alright?" He asked in concern. He didn't think he could handle it if she had come not to mend bridges but to say she didn't think there would be any such mending.
She shook herself a bit, the nervousness fading from her stance at the movement, "I wanted to talk to you. My brother told me what you did for Hanataro and Rikichi, and the story is starting to travel around even wider circles lately. Then Renji told me what you're planning to do for them now, with training them. You really haven't changed have you? You're still the same idiot Ichigo who's going to get himself hurt protecting someone else aren't you?" By the end of her speech she was back to her normally way of talking to him, a mixture of compliments and insults, wrapped up in teasing that Ichigo had missed for so many months of confinement and then avoidance.
He grinned at her, something he rarely did but figured she needed to see that he was starting to heal, "Wouldn't be the first time." He admitted without any reluctance. "No I haven't changed Rukia, at least not in the ways that count anyway." With that, he was back to seriousness.
"I wish I could say I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, but I just, needed to know." This was it, the heart of the matter. "I tried to stay out of your way so that you could get help without me interfering because of my own problems, it was the only thing I could do for you. I didn't know Aizen very well, Renji did, I was the one who had the personal issue with Hollows. Knowing that can you understand why the two of us reacted so differently when you came back to us? Renji had a better idea of what you had just lived through, but I had been threatened by the being inside of you. I am still terrified to be honest. I worry that someday that creature is going to fight you, and you will be off guard, in that situation you might very well lose to him. I was the one that killed Kaien, I don't want to have to do it again, or even witness it."
"You will never have to do that again, I promise." Ichigo made sure to look her in the eye as he said it. "I trust Junichi, but even if something made him go out of control, I would never allow myself to remain close enough for any of you to get caught up in his wrath. I would willingly go back to Heuco Mundo and let the dessert claim me before I would let any of you get hurt."
Tears gathered in her dark eyes, but she fought them back. "Soul Society would never let you do that. They would kill you before they would let you go to that place by choice, too much potential to turn traitor."
"If Junichi was that close to losing it, no one could stop me," Ichigo affirmed quietly. "I didn't turn against the Soul Society when I had Aizen whispering poisoned honey in my ear everyday, I'm certainly not going to do it when I'm trying to get myself wiped out of existence. I will admit to just about anyone that the Seireitei has a lot of rules I don't agree with, but rules can be changed or reasoned with, for the most part the purpose of this place makes sense and I understand the balance needs to be kept. I will fight for the Seireitei, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to argue with the people in it when I see something that needs changing."
Rukia just stood there blinking in shock, until, "Ichigo, I think you were wrong. You have changed, but it's good. You've grown up."
"Well it was bound to happen sometime." He didn't see the point in arguing with her on that, but he did wonder why it was so shocking. How did she think he could survive what he did and not mature even more than he already had been.
Jyuushiro and Shunsui had no interest in dating children after all, they wouldn't have approached him if he hadn't matured over the last few months.
"Were you going somewhere?" She finally asked, eyeing Zangetsu, usually if he was headed to the training grounds at the Thirteenth's barracks he just carried his Zanpakuto not bothering to strap him into place.
"Retsu cleared Hanataro and Rikichi, today is the first day of training." Ichigo informed, debating for a moment before deciding to give it a shot, "Want to come? Byakuya is letting Renji come for the whole day today since it's the first session. He will have to make do with whatever time he can scrounge when his duties are done after today."
She nodded, "I'd like that," There was a little smirk on her face that reminded Ichigo of Isane's words from his visit to Hanataro's recovery room. Apparently, even experienced Shinigami were interested in seeing his training methods.
Ichigo had chosen to take the pair to the same sheltered cavern Yoruichi had taught him Bankai in. He figured if it could cover the fact there was a Ryoka learning such a high-powered technique right under a searchers nose, then Hanataro and Rikichi could rest a little easier believing they were safe.
Ichigo was still going to be on high alert though, he was not going to risk those two, not after all they had been through and with Byakuya's startling faith in him.
With the delay Rukia's appearance had caused him, Hanataro and Rikichi had beaten him to the cave, Renji's presence beside them betraying how they knew where the place was at without his Spirit Pressure there to give it away.
Renji's smile was stretching out his tattoos it was so huge, "Come to watch the show Rukia?"
"Yeah, I want to see this idiot get beaten up by Hanataro." Rukia claimed calmly, sending the two younger soul reapers into fits of laughter, while Ichigo's jaw dropped in shock. "Oh come on, just because you don't fight doesn't mean you can't. This could be interesting."
Ichigo scrapped his jaw off the ground to add, "She has a point Hanataro, you are good when you decide to fight, you just don't do it very often. Shyness can be an advantage, back when I was defending myself on the street with Chad, there was a couple little guys that could take on just as many opponents as Chad. If the person you are fighting underestimates you then you have a good chance of winning."
"I don't want a chance of winning!" Hanataro broke out, surprising all of them. "I had to catch Riki when he fell after they hit him! I tried to fight, but wasn't strong enough. A chance isn't good enough. I want to win! Tell me how you win battle after battle, please tell me!" He was desperate, and Ichigo was pretty sure the only thing keeping him from going over the edge to hysteria was Rikichi's hand on his wrist.
So he answered, as rationally as he could to counter the rising turmoil in the normally docile healer. "Speed, strength, skill, and adaptability are all part of fighting, but the best thing Kisuke ever taught me was to not have a set style. Be unpredictable, fighters that only use a certain method are relatively easy to beat no matter how good they are at that one method. That was how I could eventually win against Byakuya. There was no one fast enough to match his Shikai's speed, so he relied on it, once I got to that level and forced him into Bankai we were back into the territory of sword against sword. You learn that kind of generalized fighting on the street too, the specialists got taken out of the fights the quickest."
"You think you can teach us this in ten days?" Rikichi asked in awe.
Ichigo nodded seriously, "Yes. I learned what Kisuke had to teach in ten days because I had to come here to Soul Society and rescue Rukia. Do you understand? Motivation is the reason I learned it so fast. If you two want to learn, you will." He revealed. "It's not going to be easy. Kisuke had to push me nearly to my breaking point to get me trained in that time and I'll be doing the same for you. It works doing it that way though, so that's what we'll do."
"How do we start?" Hanataro asked.
"I know you have a Shikai, but do you have one Rikichi?" That would be the logical place to start to him.
"Not yet." Rikichi admitted.
"Alright," He had suspected as much, "Do you know your Zanpakuto's name?"
"No, but I've heard her speak a few times when I was running into trouble." He used his free hand to tenderly rub the hilt of his Zanpakuto.
"Good, that is where we are going to start." Ichigo confirmed, "When I first started learning under Kisuke, I had no power. I had encountered Renji and Byakuya in the Living World, in the attack I had lost the conection between my soul and body, as well as any command over the power Rukia had initially loaned me; which was the reason Rukia was to be executed in the first place."
As Ichigo settled into the story, Hanataro and Rikichi practically swarmed him, their appearance mirroring that of excited puppies. Ichigo heard the barely restrained laughter of Rukia, and Renji didn't even bother to hide it as they watched the younger pair soak in everything Ichigo was willing to tell them of his first few days regaining his power.
The only moment of hesitation came when he got to the third day at the bottom of shattered shaft. For the first time since starting his story, he switched his focus off Hanataro and Rikichi, and put it on Rukia, then without leaving anything out he told about fighting off the Hollowfication process so that he became a Visored instead of a Hollow.
He had never told that story before, to anyone, not even the other Visoreds who all got their Hollows in a different way then he did.
He concluded the story with, "I didn't have a choice, it was either have Junichi as a part of my soul, even though I didn't understand what that meant at the time, or not have a soul left at all. Hanataro I know exactly what you mean by saying you don't just want a chance of winning, you need to see it through to the end. I'll show you how to fight, and keep going no matter how much it looks like you won't win, because in the end what I want you to focus on isn't winning; it's not losing."
"How does that make sense?" Hanataro asked in confusion, Rikichi nodding along with him.
Ichigo had been expecting the question, so he had the answer ready, "Ever since encountering the Soul Society, I have been facing off against increasingly stronger opponents. Just about every battle has thrown me to the ground multiple times. If you go into a fight expecting to win it, and then you hit the ground your will to get back up is stunted, but if you go into that same fight refusing to lose you will pull yourself out of the dirt as many times as it takes. That is how I have won against so many people that were stronger than me."
"So that's your secret," Renji butted in. "I knew there had to be something."
"You mean you haven't heard that before?" Ichigo was a bit surprised at that. "That's a little odd to me, considering I'm pretty sure Kenpachi fights the same way."
"Kenpachi doesn't say anything about method, he is more about results than anything else," Renji readily admitted. "You really think he is the same way?"
"As positive as anyone can be about someone else's style. I caught onto it when I was fighting him the first time, we fight almost exactly the same way. If it wasn't for Zangetsu helping me out, I would be dead, we were that closely matched." Ichigo confirmed. "That is something we can talk about another time though, these two have only been released for a few days, so time to get started. The goal by the end of ten days is to have Rikichi at Shikai and Hanataro at Bankai. I have been spending the last few days while you two were recovering making a few arrangements for helpers, they will be helping me show you a style of fighting that you two can use together that will make the best out of both of your talents." Looks of shock all around, this was going to be fun.
"Did you just say you wanted me to be at Bankai?" Hanataro practically squeaked.
He nodded, smiling at his flustered friend, "You can do it. Kisuke has a method that cuts down the time it takes, I learned it in two days."
"But you were already so much stronger then me when you started, there's no way I can do it!" Hanataro objected.
Ichigo's smile faded and his eyes hardened, "Stop that right now Hanataro!" He ordered. "You are a lot stronger than you let yourself show, and the way others treat you doesn't help. If I have to rip you apart and put you back together again in the next few days to show you that I will, but believe me, in the end you will have your Bankai!"
"I believe in you too." Rikichi affirmed, squeezing Hanataro's hand. "Who are the other people you asked to help us? Are we allowed to know before they get here?" He asked to divert attention away from Hanataro while he got himself under control once again.
"Jyuushiro and Shunsui did agree like I thought they would, the other two are a surprise," Ichigo went along with Rikichi's distraction.
Renji's chuckle brought their attention to him, "I have a suspicion who they might be."
"Suspect away, but I think even you are going to be surprised." Ichigo knew he was only encouraging Renji's curiosity, but it wouldn't hurt anything if he did figure it out, so there was no harm in it.
"Well we aren't going to get anywhere just standing here talking, so what is first?" Not Hanataro, Rikichi, starting to get excited at the very real prospect of something this big happening to him and the person he loved. He never expected this many people to care about them, especially the people in the ranks as high as Lieutenant and Captain that would normally barely acknowledge someone like him who wasn't even Seated.
To say things were changing in the Soul Society was an understatement, and now he had the privilege of learning from the person that was the cause of most of the upheaval; the rest of it being Aizen.
"First up, Hanataro you're with Renji, he has a Bankai and knows what goes into finding one so he's a good sparring partner for a person trying to find their own. Rikichi I'd like to work with you today, there is more than one way to get to Shikai, and I need to get a feel for what's going to work best on you." Ichigo informed, sliding into his teaching roll easily, so naturally he caused Rukia no small amount of shock.
"Where's the target thingy Hanataro is going to need?" Renji asked as he started to lead him away.
"Near the back wall closest to the spring," Ichigo informed before turning back to Rikichi, "You remember everything you need to tell him right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can handle this much," Renji grumbled, "You've got him the rest of the time, plus it's not like I'm doing the work, it's his Zanpakuto putting him through his paces."
"Huh?" Two voices chorused in unison, both Rikichi and Hanataro didn't know what to make of that one.
"You'll see," Renji told the older of the pair wickedly, pulling him along as Hanataro gulped.
Rikichi was left watching Hanataro get dragged along by his idol torn between wanting to rescue and willingness to trust this was the best thing for him.
"He'll be fine," Ichigo was not blind to his debate, "The best thing that can possibly happen to Hanataro is be pushed to his limit while he is still so motivated by the attack, and you being right here working hard next to him is only going to push him further. I'll let you in on a little secret, one of the people I have been asking for advice from is Captain Unohana, Retsu has been telling me exactly how to approach Hanataro so I can help him improve without hurting him."
There was a look of slight indecision on his face, "I know you planned all this for him, is it really okay that I'm tagging along? They just kind of put up with me in the Sixth hoping I'll get better, Renji sticks up for me now and again, but I know the Captain is losing patience with how little I can do for the Squad."
"Rikichi, if there is one thing I know about Byakuya it's this, there is no losing patience with him. He has none to begin with. He would not keep you on the squad if he didn't have a reason for it. I didn't ask you here just as a ploy to help Hanataro, this is for you too. I like helping people, you need it, and want it, so I have no problem helping you too. You were both hurt, I saw you bleeding and him struggling to get you help, so I am going to do everything I can to make sure nothing like that happens again." Ichigo assured.
"How can you be like that?" The tone was awe, and a bit of frustration, "You are so powerful, everyone was sure you would be so, I don't know, arrogant? That no one would be able to get close to you, but you are the one reaching out to everyone else. Here you are helping me when the only thing you know about me is that I'm with Hanataro."
"You were one of the ones helping to track us down while we were labeled Ryoka right?" Ichigo didn't continue until he got a nod, "Do you remember one of the others named Chad? He was very tall, broad, and muscular compared to the rest of us. Shunsui is the one who brought him in during the incident."
"I didn't meet him personally, but he made enough of an impression I've heard about him." Rikichi admitted.
"Chad is a powerful person. His strength is obvious, he is bigger then just about everyone around him, and has always been that way from the time I've known him. Yet he is gentle if you talk to him, he rarely speaks, and one of the first brushes he had with the spirit realm came because he was protecting the cursed spirit of a boy trapped in the body of a parakeet. He is the one who taught me the most about balancing power with responsibility. We came to an agreement long ago that he would throw his punches for me, and I would throw mine for him. I have been given strength, how I use it is my choice, and I want to help people."
Rikichi lifted his head and asked the question on his mind since Ichigo had been so forthcoming up till now, "There are a lot of people that need help, people that are close to you, or closer, so why us?"
"You forget it wasn't very long ago I was held captive, hurt and helpless at the hands of an enemy I couldn't beat yet myself. I know what it's like to want to get stronger no matter what it costs, to worry about protecting what you love. I had to have an Espada break me out or I would still be there, an Espada! If it weren't for one of Aizen's own warriors turning on him, my strength would have meant nothing because I was chained up like a dog and kept as a pet. I will help the two of you get stronger, because no one will ever take advantage of my friends ever again, not while I am free to do something about it." Rikichi was stunned into silence, but Ichigo was still tackled because he had forgotten something in the moment.
Rukia had been listening, and hearing it out loud like that, after avoiding Ichigo for so long she hadn't been around to see him come to grips with the captivity and start talking about it; she couldn't not react. Now Ichigo had an armful of sobbing Soul Reaper and was at a slight loss as to what to do.
"Ah Rukia, are you okay?" He asked awkwardly, not used to her displaying that much emotion at once.
She punched his shoulder as a response, "You idiot, I should be asking you that!" She snapped. "I knew it was bad, but I really screwed up didn't I? Junichi saved you, and I abandoned you because I was more worried about that stupid Hollow than you. I was selfish."
"No you weren't selfish, you were scared." Now that he had something to work with, his confidence returned and he could reassure her. "I understood then just as much as I do now Rukia. I do trust Junichi, because he is part of me, but I have seen what a Hollow is capable of, they tortured me while I was in their grasp. I don't know what you saw that night, but if it was similar to what I've seen, you have every right to be cautious of Junichi until you know he isn't a threat."
"You really are a moron you know that, but this time I'm glad." The tears had stopped, but she squeezed one last time before pulling away from his hug. "Now get back to your lesson Mr. Professor." She teased, punching his shoulder again.
"I don't think I'm ever going to understand why you show affection with violence." Ichigo muttered turning back to Rikichi who'd stepped back and averted his eyes to give them some privacy. "Alright, sorry about that, but now you understand I think why this is important to me. Power means nothing if the people around you are gone. Keep them close, and keep them safe, that's what I'm going to ask of both of you coming out of this."
"That won't be a problem," Rikichi assured. "I know I don't have the heart to hurt anyone that hasn't done something to deserve it; and Hana is even more passive than I am usually. He doesn't even carry his Zanpkauto most of the time."
"Part of this training is not about how to fight, but when." Rikichi deserved a warning, he loved Hanataro too much for Ichigo not to give him one. "I appreciate people like Hanataro, and another of my friends Orihime, that prefer to heal rather than fight, but I think there is more potential lurking inside them than that. I don't want to change him so that all he wants to do is fight, I want to give him the choice. I don't want people thinking you two are an easy mark. Retsu chooses not to fight, but everyone in the Seireitei knows its choice, and listens to her commands, if I have my way Hanataro will eventually be the same."
"And me?" He was confident enough to ask that after everything else he heard.
"From what I know, you want to fight, and prove yourself or you wouldn't be worried about Byakuya's patience or your place in the Sixth." Ichigo observed. "So that is what I'm going to be showing you. Hanataro will be the shield, and you the sword. The two pairs I have coming advised me that was the best way to train a team of two as close as you've grown."
"But you're giving him a Bankai, and I don't even have a Shikai yet, how am I the sword?" Ichigo could see the thrill lighting up in the young Soul Reaper, but there was still caution in him. Fear that maybe this opportunity was too good to be true.
"I am giving you the tools you'll need to keep growing. You will have your Shikai at the end of this, but that doesn't mean that is all the further you will go." He assured. "Once the rage of this attack dies down I don't think Hanataro is going to be as forcible about fighting as he is now, but you're different. You want to fight for more then just this one incident, so if I work with you now you will find the motivation to keep going after we're done with this one intense training session. It's what Kisuke did for me."
"Wait, so why do I get the feeling my training is more like yours than Hana's?" Rikichi realized.
"Because it is." Ichigo admitted. "Hanataro's training is more like what I got from Yoruichi, plus a sprinkling of what I learned from the Espada while I was Aizen's captive. Yours most resembles my initial training regimen, but that is what everything else built on, so if I hadn't had it I wouldn't be half the fighter I am now. I would probably be dead many times over actually now that I think about it."
"You are breaking up the training you had, giving us each a part, and then you are bringing in friends of yours to help us learn how to fight together. Did I get the plan right?" Rikichi analyzed.
Ichigo blinked slowly in shock, "Actually, yes. I just noticed the two of you had different personalities that might take to different parts of what I could teach you, but combined together it could be extremely hard to beat the two of you."
"Is the other pair the Third and Fifth seats from the Eleventh?" Rikichi took a guess. "They fight like that, or at least I think they did the few times I've seen them."
"You aren't wrong about them," Ichigo approved, "They do fight in a combined style when they need to, but they are pure melee fighters, and I don't know what kind of power you two are going to end up with, so no they aren't the ones I asked to help. I think Renji thought the same way you did though, which is why I told him he might be surprised."
"Now you have me really curious," Rikichi admitted.
"Do you really want to know?" This did serve a purpose, the teasing and cajoling allowed Ichigo to get a feel for Rikichi's personality first hand. Useful for teaching him.
He barely managed to contain himself, and even Rukia was looking interested having pulled herself together after her earlier breakdown. "Yes please, if you're willing to tell me." Rikichi requested again.
"Retsu is loaning me Isane, and Shunsui is shoving Nanao away from paperwork for a few days. Between all the people involved in this little training exercise you two are going to be the best trained Soul Reapers in any squad." Ichigo explained confidently, proud he had snagged the two women into his web.
Shunsui and Jyuushiro could show them how to fight together yes, but they had been doing it for a very long time. They knew exactly how and where they were going to move and what the other was most likely to do during a battle. It was instinctual for them. They could show Hanataro and Rikichi what they had the potential to do, but it would be awhile before they reached that level.
It had been an accident that Ichigo found out Isane and Nanao had worked together before, just as Retsu was occasionally deployed alongside Kenpachi on dangerous missions where healing might be immediately needed. It was perfect, a team that could show the two males how to begin working together before they reached the level of Jyuushiro and Shunsui.
"None of that matters though until we can get you to your Shikai." Ichigo stated firmly before they went off on another tangent.
"How do we do that?" Rikichi was ready for it, he wanted to learn.
"Remember the times you heard your Zanpakuto's voice?" Ichigo prompted.
He nodded, "I was always in some kind of trouble or danger."
A grin bloomed across Ichigo's face that made Rikichi freeze as he realized what was coming, "Exactly. I happen to know a source of danger perfectly suited to this task. Hanataro has three days to reach Banakai, you get a different challenge, you will learn Shikai in three minute increments."
"Three minutes?" Rikichi asked skeptically.
Ichigo cast his gaze over to Rukia, "You might not want to watch this," He warned, before focusing back on Rikichi. "You are going to be facing Junichi, but he only gets to come out for three minutes at a time. Each time I let him out though I will push you a little harder until we reach the point you have to call your Zanpakuto's name to protect yourself from him."
"Ichigo, I know you trust Junichi, but are you really willing to risk using him for something like this? What happens if you miscalculate?" Rukia exclaimed with a hiss, pulling Ichigo down by his ear until he was at her level.
"Yes Rukia, I'm going to trust him. He's agreed to this." Ichigo did his best to reassure, without letting Rikichi overhear or it might ruin the point of using Junichi. "Look, Junichi likes Hanataro, and by extension Rikichi; this was actually his idea. Junichi will not hurt him, no matter if he calls the name or not, but we can't let him know that. Remember finding your own Shikai? The key to finding it in a limited time is desperation, as long as he believes he is in danger he will find it, but I promise you Junichi and I have this under control. Plus I already promised Byakuya that nothing would happen to him, and I don't want to piss your brother off again when I think I might have managed to earn a little respect from him."
She took a deep breath, "Fine, but I don't like this, and I think I need to watch this. If I turn away now I will always be second guessing Junichi and you."
"You need to have more faith in yourself," Ichigo added lowly as he straightened up. "You've already accepted what you're saying, but you don't want to admit it."
"And how can you possibly know that?" She huffed.
He tossed a damning sentence back over his shoulder, "Because you've been calling my Hollow by his name since you tackled me earlier."